Mophia game

This group game involves lots of strategy, knowing how and when to reveal your identity, who to trust, etc. A variation for younger kids is known as Predator. Thanks Sara! Many other variations exist for the game of Mafia. If you know some more good ones, please leave a comment and tell us!

You must be logged in to post a comment. Close Menu Cart. Instructions to 67 Group Games. Buy Big Book of Games Show sub menu. Thank you for your purchase! Submit New Games! What is Team Building? Mafia Game This stationary game originally invented by psychology student Dimitry Davidoff in Russia, is a popular group game involving strategy and bluffing.

Setup The narrator needs to prepare the right number of playing cards to set up the game. Roles Ace card : Anyone who gets an Ace card is a Mafia member.

Their goal is to keep secret that they are Mafia and blend in with the Townspeople. For them to win the game, they want to eliminate the townspeople one by one each round but not to get eliminated voted off during the day. King card : Anyone who gets a King card is a member of the Police. These members try to figure out who is guilty of being a Mafia and who is innocent.

Next, grab your cards and decide which suit will represent the mafia members. For instance, the mafia cards could be hearts or clubs. Set aside a king card and a queen card of any suit as well. Whoever gets these cards will take the roles of detective and doctor.

Then, pull enough random cards from non-mafia suits for all the remaining players. The moderator will then shuffle the cards and distribute them randomly to all the players. Instruct the players not to show anyone their cards—they have to keep their roles secret.

Once the cards are assigned, the moderator should tell everyone to go to sleep, meaning they must look down and close their eyes. Next, they will ask the mafia members to wake up. Any player with a mafia card opens their eyes, silently identifying themselves to the moderator. After the mafia members make their choice, they go back to sleep. Then, the moderator will ask the detective to wake up and point to someone they think may be mafia. At this point, the detective will just have to use their instincts and make their best guess.

Finally, the moderator asks the doctor to wake up and choose someone to save. They can either save themselves or another player of their choosing. Otherwise, they will still be eliminated from the game. Now the moderator wakes up the rest of the players and briefly explains the events of the night.

For instance, if the detective guessed wrong, they might say that the mafia attacked Susan during the night, but unfortunately the killer escaped from the detective. If the detective guessed right, the player they chose will be identified as mafia and eliminated from the game.

Whatever happens, have all the players debate for 5 to 10 minutes, then ask them to vote to eliminate one player from the game. Once a player is voted guilty, they must then reveal their role and sit out the rest of the game, whether or not they were actually mafia.

The moderator will now ask all the players to go to sleep again, and the mafia will choose a new victim. Keep repeating the process until either all the mafia or all the townspeople are eliminated.

To learn how to start the day cycle once the night cycle is complete, read on! Did this summary help you? Yes No. Log in Social login does not work in incognito and private browsers. Please log in with your username or email to continue. No account yet? Create an account. Edit this Article. We use cookies to make wikiHow great. By using our site, you agree to our cookie policy. Cookie Settings. Learn why people trust wikiHow.

Download Article Explore this Article methods. Tips and Warnings. Things You'll Need. Related Articles. Article Summary. Method 1.

All rights reserved. This image may not be used by other entities without the express written consent of wikiHow, Inc. Gather 7 or more people to play and have everyone sit in the same room. The players may sit around a table, on sofas and chairs, or on the floor, but they must all be in the same room during the entire game. Make sure that you choose a space that is large enough for everyone to comfortably occupy.

Choose a moderator. The moderator does not actually play the game. They will be in charge of making sure that the game runs smoothly, so the moderator should be someone who has a firm grasp on the rules.

Split up a deck of cards so that there is 1 card for each role. Use a deck made up of as many cards as there are players. The deck needs to contain 1 king, 1 queen, 1 card of a certain suit for each mafia member, and enough additional cards of another suit to represent townspeople. There should be 1 mafia member for every 3 townspeople, so include this amount of the special suit in the deck. For example, to play with 12 players, remove all but 1 king and 1 queen, all but 3 cards of a certain suit or the number of mafia players needed , and include only 7 more random cards.

Shuffle the cards and have each player take 1 card. Shuffle the deck and hold it out face down to each of the players. Instruct the players to look at their cards, but to keep their cards hidden from the other players. Have players keep their cards hidden for the remainder of the game by setting them face down on a table. Assign roles to players using playing cards. Whoever gets the king is the detective and whoever gets the queen is the doctor, and these players have special actions that they get to use once per round.

If a player gets one of the special suit cards, then they are a member of the mafia. If a player gets any other card, then they are a townsperson. If the detective is correct, then that person is eliminated. If they are wrong, then nothing happens. The doctor may point to 1 person who they want to save. They may also choose to save themself. If the mafia tries to kill the person the doctor chooses, then that person is saved for the round.

Method 2. Tell everyone to close their eyes to begin the night cycle. You may instruct the players to put their heads down too if desired. All players should do this no matter what their role is. Instruct the mafia to open their eyes and choose a victim. Anyone who drew a mafia card should open their eyes at this time and look around to see who else has their eyes open. When they reach a decision, have them tell you who the victim is by pointing to the person.

If the mafia cannot come to a unanimous decision about who to eliminate, then they forfeit their turn and no one will be eliminated during that round. Tell the mafia to go back to sleep after they choose their victim. Note who the person is that the mafia has chosen to eliminate.

Then, tell the mafia to go back to sleep and have all of them close their eyes again. Say out loud that it is time for the detective to wake up. That person may then open their eyes and point at someone they think is a member of the mafia. Since there is only 1 detective in the game, they will have to rely on their instincts and any other hints they have gotten.

If you notice someone else open their eyes, then you may need to check their cards to see who the real detective is. Rather, it is up to the sheriff to convince the townspeople the next day who the Mafia member is. Mafia can only choose one target per round 2 mafia vote on 1 target Revealing your card if you are playing with cards is cheating. Opening your eyes when it is not permitted is cheating.

Common saying of course. So in the game, the dead are not allowed to influence the town through speech or physical gestures. It is cheating. They can talk, but any hinting at a mafia should get them kicked from the next round or game. After setup, follow this sequence to play the game: 1: The mayor tells every one to close their eyes.

Example: Mayor says "last night, the mafia was angry at somebody who was stealing his money, so he killed person A , the doctor saved the wrong person. Mafia killed person A but doctor saved him. Note: Anybody killed by the mafia will most likely be a civilian, but you take their card regardless. They are not allowed to reveal their role. The mayor then calls for a vote here any civilian or player can make a claim against any suspicious person.

Only two people can be nominated for prosecution Allow 2 minutes for nominations. The mayor then allows the prosecuted to defend themselves, then a vote happens Allow another 2 minutes for votes. Check "skulls" for variable.

Example: There were 8 people in the game with 2 mafia, and the mafia kills 4 people, so there are 2 mafia and 2 other players. The two other players maybe able to vote off one of the mafia, but in the next round, one of the normal players will be killed, meaning the last 2 players are 1 mafia and 1 normal person, so you can't win a 1v1 against mafia. What I mean by circumstances is when things either get out of hand or you can't figure out where to go from your last move.

Here are some of the main circumstances I've ran into:. The doctor: This class seems overpowered, no? Why not save yourself every round so you can figure out the mafia yourself?

Those are the motives that most doctors will have, and they will barely make good doctors. The circumstance here is allowing for the doctor to save himself, every other round, so that his role doesn't not become unbalanced. Not necessarily a rule. Circumstance 1: Somebody woke up when they weren't suppose to? Simple fix: You either restart the round, or kill the person who wasn't suppose to be awake.

Example: A Doctor wakes up when the mayor requests the Mafia to wake up. The mayor has a choice to immediately end the life of the doctor or reset the game. Circumstance 2: If you are the mayor, and you forget what happened in the round you've just completed, you can start the round again. Example: Say Mafia decide to kill person A, but you forgot who person A is.

Simply get the mafia to get back up when everyone is asleep and ask them who they wanted to kill. Here are some skulls you can use in Mafia! You were it? It makes the game easier so you can find out how many more mafia are left.

You only live twice skull: Get the James Bond reference? This skull is specific to the doctor. With this skull activated, the doctor has to follow the once every other round rule, which states he can only save himself every other round. Example: If I was doctor and saved myself first round, I could only save myself on the third, fifth, seventh and so on rounds.

Reveal Yourself! Skull: The only time the mayor asks if somebody "if they are mafia or not" is when that person is voted off, not killed by mafia. Activating this skull allows for the other roles to reveal themselves when they normally couldn't.

This skull cannot be activated at the same time as the Nobody Knows skull. Nobody Knows skull: Activating this skull means that when a person is voted off, they will not state whether or not they were mafia, so it's more difficult to find out if there is still more than one mafia out there.

You Saved Me! Example: If you were doctor, and saved person A, and the next round mafia tries to kill you, the mayor will announce in the recap that you were a victim, but the doctor saved you, even though you may have not saved yourself. This skull only works once per game.

Wait, the sheriff has a gun? Skull: This is the weirdest skull ever. The sheriff has a gun with 2 bullets. He has a choice whether or not to use it at the beginning of the first two rounds, but he will be unable to check people's innocence, and if he checks for people's innocence first, he will be unable to use the gun.

Example: Round 1, the mayor asks the sheriff who he wants to check, but if the sheriff shapes his finger into a gun and points at someone, then the mayor will nod. In the recap, that person dies, but their role cannot be revealed. Round 2, the mayor asks the sheriff who he wants to check, and if the sheriff does check, then his gun is rendered useless. The same could be said when you check someone in round 1, and try to use the gun in round 2: it won't work unless it's the first two rounds.

Since Mafia has been around since I was 11, I've learned a lot about this game, so here are a few tips on how to play like a pro!

People will always try to get inside your head, and get them on your side. You should try to do the same, but be careful about who you ally with. I had a friend who had a suspicious smile all the time, even though he was just a civilian. In a game of 12 people, we had 3 mafia, a doctor and sheriff, and seven civilians.

By round 3, 2 mafia had died along with two civilians, and one civilian was saved. The one mafia left was me, so I pulled my trump card: my psychological attacks. I turned everybody against each other, and acted as their moderator. By the last round, it was two civilians and me, meaning that if either of them died, I won.

I finally used my "I helped you clause" which entails "Don't you remember that he tried to vote you off two rounds ago, and I helped saved you?

Why would I have reason to kill you now?